The Fosters S4 E16 Recap: “The Long Haul”

The road has been long, winding, and exhausting so far this season on The Fosters, but this week the show decided to slow down and enjoy the journey. Wedding bells are ringing, and everyone briefly puts aside their catastrophic teen woes to come together and watch two people pledge their lives to one another. Here’s what happened:

Stef’s mother Sharon is visiting, and she’s always an enthusiastic breath of fresh air. During dinner her boyfriend Will announces their engagement, and they all agree to hold the wedding at the Foster home. After dinner, Callie helps Stef wash dishes as they discuss Callie’s upcoming trial, Stef reminds her that proof is much more important in adult court than juvenile, and her father’s lawyers will prove the prosecution simply doesn’t have any. As Callie goes to bed, Sharon approaches Stef with a request to deny Will the permission for her hand in marriage. Stef denies and tells her mother she needs to deal with the conundrum herself like a grown woman.

At school, A.J. and Callie discuss his flirtation with another girl and the prospect of them dating while Callie is at the women’s prison. A.J. and a girl named Dawn had been talking about liking one another’s buns, and Callie’s eyes practically roll back into her head over approaching the tail end of the conversation. Because who cares about hot buns when you might be going to prison?

Emma writes Jesus a letter to explain her secret, but he can’t read the words on the page even though he has insisted on abandoning his physical therapy. While Jesus is struggling with his inability to read upstairs, Lena prepares permission slips for students who want to attend the LGBT sex education class she’s holding at their home, and expresses to Jude that Noah should also attend. Just, obviously dismayed, convinces Lena to hold the class someplace outside of their house.

Callie takes A.J. to the store Troy Johnson claimed he was working during the time of the murder, and they discover Troy’s alibi is his own girlfriend Vanessa, who used to work there. A.J. is stuck talking to Troy when he finds out Vanessa isn’t there, causing Troy to become skeptical and follow him out to the car where he threatens Callie to call the police. It’s quite possible Callie will manage to ruin A.J.’s life while trying to prove Troy’s guilt.

Will holds a dinner for the family and makes a toast in honor of the upcoming wedding before asking for Stef’s blessing, which she provides. Sharon decides to give the wedding a shot, because how could you possibly not want to marry that adorable man? Kindness and respect just flow from Will’s energy in waves, the two are a perfect, fun loving match.

As Jesus sits in his room after dinner, fruitlessly attempting to read Emma’s letter, Sharon comes in and offers to read it to him. In the letter Emma admits her pregnancy, but Sharon skips over that part, telling Jesus he should read it himself once he feels better. Jesus promptly responds to Emma’s letter through a text message, telling her they don’t need to discuss the letter and can just move forward, so he still has no idea about the pregnancy. Why does no one feel the need to tell Jesus what actually happened? It’s only a matter of time before this news gets delivered to Jesus in a less than desirable setting.